I have spent 11 horrific years in solitary confinement in a 6-square-meter dungeon three floors underground without sunlight or fresh air. But I endured my hardships because I was merely living my convictions.

I would prefer to remain in prison for another 20 years than bargain my beliefs for freedom.

Now that you (Lebanese people) have come out of the great prison to which you were confined, you have released me from the small prison in which I was put.

You have come out of the big prison which you had been put in and you have taken me out with the same act from the small prison which I had been put in.